As a transgender woman, a New York City subway icon finds her own voice
The voice is familiar to the millions who ride New York City’s subways, its deep and resonant tone ringing through tunnels and across the tracks. For more than a decade, Bernie Wagenblast has lent that voice to automated announcements alerting passengers to train arrivals and politely directing people to “please stand away from the platform edge.”
But earlier this year, Wagenblast, 66, went on the radio to publicly reveal a different voice — higher pitched and softer spoken — that is more reflective of the transition from the man he was to the transgender woman she was always meant to be.
For decades, Wagenblast’s voice — low, authoritative and benign all at once — has provided a career and livelihood. Yet she knows that her transformation won’t be complete unless she replaces her “guy voice” with one that has the vocal register, timbre and tone of a woman.